Philonise Floyd: 'Today we are able to breathe again'

Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd, whose killing sparked racial justice protests across the nation and world last summer. The verdict was announced Tuesday afternoon. Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, spoke out following the verdict, saying, “Today we are able to breathe again.”

Video transcript

PHILONISE FLOYD: I feel relieved today that I finally have the opportunity for hopefully getting some sleep. A lot of days then I prayed, and I hoped, and I was speaking everything into existence, I said, I have faith that he will be convicted.

[CLAPPING]

It's been a long journey.

AL SHARPTON: Yeah.

PHILONISE FLOYD: And it's been less than a year. And the person that comes to my mind is 1955. And to me he was the first George Floyd. That was Emmett Till.

BENJAMIN CRUMP: Wow.

[SOBBS]

Wow.

PHILONISE FLOYD: I was on CNN with Deborah Watts, and she just brought him back to life.

BENJAMIN CRUMP: Wow.

PHILONISE FLOYD: People forgot about him.

AL SHARPTON: Yeah.

PHILONISE FLOYD: But he was the first George Floyd.

- Yes.

PHILONISE FLOYD: But today you have the cameras all around the world to see and show what happened to my brother. It was a motion picture. The world seeing his life being extinguished. And I could do nothing but watch. Especially in that courtroom over and over and over again as my brother was murdered.

[SOBBS]

Times that are getting harder every day.

[SOBBS]

10 miles away from here, Mr. Wright, Daunte Wright--

AL SHARPTON: That's right.

BENJAMIN CRUMP: Yeah.

PHILONISE FLOYD: --should still be here. We have to always understand that we have to march. We will have to do this for life. We have to protest because it seems like this is a never ending cycle.

AL SHARPTON: Yeah.

BENJAMIN CRUMP: Yeah.

PHILONISE FLOYD: Reverend Al always told me we got to keep fighting.

- That's right.

PHILONISE FLOYD: I'mma put up a fight every day. Because I'm not just fighting for George anymore, I'm fighting for everybody around this world.

AL SHARPTON: Yeah.

PHILONISE FLOYD: I get calls. I get DMs. People from Brazil, from Ghana, from Germany, everybody, London, Italy. They're all saying the same thing. We won't be able to breathe until you're able to breathe.

- That's right.

PHILONISE FLOYD: Today, we are able to breathe again.

- Yeah.

[CLAPPING]

PHILONISE FLOYD: Miss Garner, I told you we'll get justice. And still we're going to fight for you too. We're going to fight for everybody. Thank you all so much for just giving us this time. Because we're here, and we're not going anywhere. And I want to thank all the protesters, all the attorneys who stepped up, all of the activists who stepped up, and many who think they're not activists but advocates, thank you all.

BENJAMIN CRUMP: Amen.

PHILONISE FLOYD: Because justice for George means freedom for all.

BENJAMIN CRUMP: All right.